Lies and Conspiracies - 11 years after RotJ
by Jarik
Summary: Bomb interrupts coronation of new Queen Mother of Hapes and kills several prestigious senators. Nightsisters are suspected to be involved. Wedge, Tycho, Wes, Hobbie, and Corran go to investigate after asking Karrde for some assistance.
1. Chapter 1

Five men in the normal dress of miners approached a more elaborately dressed priest. The five appeared to be just like any of the other downtrodden miners, but the priest suspected that they were in fact anything but the usual miners. He also suspected that they wanted something more from him than just the usual ritual. As the five men drew close the priest addressed the lead miner, "Hello, Wedge. What is it that I can do for you?"  
"We need a little information."  
"Some very important and secretive information I presume."  
"Yes. With your sources of information, Karrde, you've certainly heard about the recent......events at the coronation of the new Queen Mother of the Hapes Cluster."  
"It's not exactly a secret. During the coronation of the new Queen Mother, Teneniel Djo, there was a large explosion, which killed eight of the most prestigious senators and injured many more. The target was the Queen Mother herself, but she was unhurt due to a change in the seating arrangement. The suspects are the Queen Mother's husband's cousins."  
"That is all true, but what you might not know is that we have good reason to believe that Isolder's cousins had some outside help."  
"Interesting. You don't by any chance know who provided this outside help?"  
Before answering Wedge glanced around furtively, "Have you ever heard of the planet Dathomir?"  
"Isn't that the planet with the force strong witches that Luke dropped in on about seven years ago? And isn't it also the home planet of the new Queen Mother of Hapes?"  
"Yes, to both questions, but..."  
"Hey, boss," spoke up one of the other miners, "you think we could hurry it up? We're all dirty and tired, and hungry. Sithspit, are we hungry."  
"Shutup, Wes." Lowering his so that once again only Karrde could hear him, "That would be Janson. He's been forced to think with his stomach ever since suffering some brain damage two years ago. I tried to explain to him that holding his breath so long could be detrimental to his health, but anyway: After Luke left the Dathomiri began to rectify the wrongs in their culture based on their new found information. They split into two groups that live on different parts of the planet. The group that the New Republic kept in touch with is the group that started changing their culture. The other group, however, still lives as they did before Luke showed up with females on the top of society and the New Republic kinda lost contact with this group."  
"Any day now Wedge. I think Hobbie's going to pass out."  
Wedge looked over his shoulder, "Tycho keep him quiet."  
"Yes, sir," He turned to Janson, "You heard him. No more bothering the General. He's trying to tell a story. Ok, go ahead Wedge."  
"So anyway, we now suspect that some Nightsisters survived, are staying with the group that we lost track of and were involved in the attack on the Queen Mother."  
"They could cause...quite some trouble."  
"Yep, which is why we're asking you to keep your ears open in case any information wanders by. We'll be on Dathomir if you urgently need to find us."  
"I'll put you to the top of the priority list for any relevant information... provided my credit line is still open."  
"Of course," Wedge managed. He had been hoping that Karrde wouldn't ask for payment, but no, Karrde always did.  
"So, if I may ask, why is the government sending five X-Wing jocks out after this? It's not exactly your area of expertise."  
"Well, intelligence sure isn't equipped to handle it," Wedge pointed out, "and you know of Corran's... abilities?"  
"Of course, but I was under the impression that he wasn't trained."  
"He is, a little, but we're hoping it's enough to deal with the rudimentary understanding that they possess."  
"Right. I wish Mara was here to help you, but unfortunately she's going to be out of touch for a while. Well, good luck to you Wedge."  
Wedge turned to leave, "May the force be with you Karrde. And don't forget to keep your ears open." Karrde smiled as the five anything but ordinary miners turned and headed back for the town.  
  
  
"So, how'd it go, Wedge"  
Not any better than expected Tych. He didn't know anything, but said he'd start looking."  
"But can we trust him?" Corran spoke up from the back.  
"Yeah, we can trust him as long as we pay him. He's really more of a friend then he admits."  
"What is it with you and trusting people?" Hobbie asked.  
"Not in my job description, Bugbite."  
"I wish you wouldn't call me that," Hobbie mumbled.  
"Ah, but it's such a cute nickname," joked Janson. "It really has your whole essence pegged."  
"All right everybody, shutup," commanded Wedge, "We're almost back to out fighters and I want this to go smoothly. No mistakes. We'll meet in orbit of the Dathomir system. Remember, no mistakes."  
"Right, boss, Janson echoed, "No mistakes."  
  
  
"Did you get that, Dankin," asked Karrde as a man stepped out of the shadows.  
"Yes, chief."  
"Good. Get our people on it right away. If somebody doesn't do something about this fast it could be big trouble for the galaxy."  
Dankin seemed more solemn than usual, "Right away, chief."  
Karrde watched Dankin walk back toward where their ship had been landed. This could indeed be very bad for the galaxy. The damage that a few Nightsisters could cause. Karrde shuddered. It was time to get to work. Those Nightsisters could not be allowed to roam the galaxy and besides the New Republic would pay top credit.  
  
  
Sitting at his desk, Jerran Llomm, pored over the reports of the recent operation at Hapes. Somebody, somewhere had screwed up and if Jerran Llomm ever found out whom, he promised himself that the responsible person would die an excruciatingly painful death. There was a knock at the door and in walked Teresa Ki, the elder Nightsister, though elder was hardly the word to use for someone barely 28 standard years old. She was slender, about 1.75 meters (*5'9 for all fellow Americans who don't want to convert), with jet-black hair and cold brown eyes that illustrated her hate. She had a small bruise, barely detectable, on her forehead where a blood vessel had popped.  
"Ah, Teresa Ki," Jerran Llomm started the conversation, "I have a report of your recent mission right here. A failed mission if I am not mistaking. Am I?"  
"But you see my Lord, it wasn't...."  
"Quiet! Answer the question: Am I mistaking?"  
Teresa Ki opened her mouth to protest, closed it, and opened again, " No, my Lord. You are correct as always"  
"Then explain to me why exactly your mission failed."  
"We coerced the help of the Queen Mother's husband's cousins as planned, used our spellcasting to get around the guards undetected. The bomb was planted successfully, but the seating arrangement that Isolder's cousins provided to us was false and so the bomb was not in the correct position to kill the Queen Mother. Instead several prestigious senators were killed."  
"Yes. The seating arrangement though was not false, merely changed. An unanticipated security procedure. The failure is not yours."  
"Yes, my lord."  
"Now, go. Continue your planning. And this time let there be no failure."  
"Yes, my Lord."  
Teresa Ki exited the room and began the trek through the underground tunnels up to the surface of the planet, Dathomir. She would take her ship, leaving behind one of her subordinates for guard duty. She reached her ship, a ragged shuttle with a much upgraded engine and light weaponry, without incident. As they were entering hyperspace enroute for Nar Shaada, Teresa Ki reflected that Jerran Llomm must indeed be a powerful male spellcaster. She had stood directly across from him and still could not sense him. He had somehow masked his presence from her. For now she would obey him, but there would come a day when he would become careless and the path would be clear for a coup. She would begin to plan on the voyage.  
  
  
For once there were no mistakes Wedge idly thought as he pulled the lever to leave hyperspace and reenter real space above the Dathomir system, "red Flight, listen up. We're going to go to terrain flying to get in undetected. We'll land a few kilometers from the village, camouflage our fighters and hike in."  
"Leader, 3. If I may, what exactly is our intrusion plan?" asked Janson.  
"3, it's rather straight forward. We'll be meeting up with Terani Cha, at the village the New Republic kept up contact with. We'll designate it village one. At this point myself, 2, and 4 will disguise ourselves as her slaves and will travel to the village we have not had contact with. We'll designate it village 2. Once there we will do as much snooping as possible and see what we can discover. Meanwhile 5 and 3 will hike over to village 2 and hide in the woods. They will gather as mush info as possible, but will primarily be our backup."  
"Leader, 4. You mean like a safety net," asked Hobbie.  
"Yeah, sorta."  
"Oh, good. I always hated tight rope walking without a fool proof safety net."  
"Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say fool proof."  
"What'd u mean you....."  
"5, here," Corran interrupted, "Leader, I don't think this is a great plan. You're an extremely recognizable figure and..."  
  
"Don't worry, 5. I won't be recognized here. They're too isolated. You are right, though. It's not a great plan, but it's the best we could do with our resources. I was hoping Mara would be available, but...," Wedge paused, "2 what's our distance to our targeted landing ground and what is that blip that appears to be headed for out of system"   
  
"It appears to be a shuttle, pretty raggedy looking, worse than the Falcon. Don't worry, it's too far away to have picked us up. And we are now approximately 2.3 klicks away from landing ground," Tycho answered immediately.   
  
"Ok. Red Flight maintain com silence for the duration of the flight. I'll see you on the ground."  
  
"But......But," stammered Hobbie  
  
"Com silence, 4."  
  
  
As Terasi Ki exited the room Jerran Llomm reached into a drawer and pulled out what resembled a small ball. He wished to hear his instructions again, but first... He reached up and pressed against the outer edge of his nose and in effect it appeared that his skin was peeling away from his body. What was actually happening, however, was that his disguise, a living creature in its own right known as an ooglith maasquer, was separating itself from his body. The process was excruciating, but Jerran Llomm embraced the pain and as the maasquer separated itself more of his glorious scars and implants became viewable. Ah, it felt good to no longer have to look like one of those infidels. The glory of the Yuuzzhan Vong is eternal. Finally when the maasquer had completely separated itself from Llomm's body he began to play the message, which had been recorded so long ago:  
"Operative Jerran Llomm. You are to cause trouble for the existing government I any way you deem fit. You are to prevent your discovery at any and all costs. Do not attempt to contact us until we have begun the glorious takeover of the galaxy of infidels." He had decided that the biggest threat would be in the Hapes Cluster and the New Republic having too casual a relationship. The goal was not really to kill the Queen Mother, but rather to scare the Hapans back into isolation. Jerran Llomm smiled to himself as he realized that the plan was working. Hapes was already drawing more in upon themselves. Once the Queen Mother was killed they would pull back into the very isolation that they had been in years before.  
  
  
Wedge decided that now he was definitely having doubts. Back in the relative safety of his X-Wing cockpit this plan had appeared to be so reasonable and necessary and safe. However, now that he was walking into village 2 his hands bound behind his back, Tycho and Hobbie walking beside, their hands similarly bound, with Terani Cha - currently their only protection from whatever dangers were lurking - in the lead. If everything had gone according to plan Corran and Janson should now be somewhere in the woods watching out for them, although that fact did not make Wedge feel any better. He resisted the temptation to glance into the woods to make sure they were in position. He would just have to hope that everything went according to plan and act as if it had. He silently wished Corran and Wes luck.  
  
  
"Where are they," Wes asked frantically, "They should be here by now."  
"Calm down. We don't know... Wait, there they are."  
"Where?... Corran? Oh, never mind. I see them."  
"What are they doing?"  
"I think they're either buying or renting that hut over there."  
"Right, of course."  
"Either that or playing Smashball."  
"Wes!" Corran exclaimed accusingly.  
"What? Hey, wait just a second. You can't talk to me like that. I outrank you. My rank is higher than yours. You are below me. You..."  
Corran yawned, "Are you done?"  
"Yes, Wait, no. Yes, Yeah."  
"Ok, let's get to work then."  
  
  
"Captain, report coming in."  
"Patch it through to my terminal, Chin"  
"Yes, sir."  
On board the Wild Karrde, his flagship so to speak, Talon Karrde viewed the report that had just flashed onto his screen and suppressed a whistle, "Navigation, set us on course for the planet Dathomir" Karrde just hoped that he could get there in time. "Engage the hyperdrive.... Now." 


	2. Chapter 2

As they entered the hut that they had just bought Terani Cha began to speak, "We can do nothing tonight. They will expect us to remain here and rest."  
Wedge, despite understanding the logic behind that was disappointed. He wanted to start gathering information right away, "Ok, we can start tomorrow."  
"Also," Terani Cha kept speaking, "Two of you will have to report to the pits for digging or else they will grow suspicious. All sisters are supposed to send slaves to help. Your remaining pilot can do the spying."  
Wedge grimaced. They were losing two-third's of their team, but if they got caught it wouldn't matter, "All right. Me and Tycho will do the digging. Hobbie that leaves you as our information gatherer."   
Hobbie nodded acknowledgement, "Information gatherer. Sounds a lot better than spy."   
"Yep, it sure does," Wedge agreed earnestly, "Ok, now that we're all set everybody get some sleep."   
A chorus of playful, "Yes, sir."'s echoed around the room.  
  
  
Morning came and went and still Wedge toiled in the pit. The work was incredibly hard and the heat was unbearable. Next to him Tycho wasn't faring much better. Now Wedge understood why they needed so many guards - There were at least 20 women, brandishing weapons that appeared to be whips, standing guard atop the ridge of the pit approximately 6 meters above where the slaves worked - couldn't risk one of the slaves going crazy and trying to break out of this hell-hole. In their defense, though, the slaves took pretty frequent breaks and there was plenty of water to go around. Still Wedge hoped that Hobbie was a lot better off.  
  
  
"I think they're splitting up."  
"Yeah, Wedge and Tycho are going that way," Janson pointed to his left, "and Hobbie's heading that way," Janson rotated his arm to point toward his right.  
"You take Wedge and Tycho. I've got Hobbie."  
"Deal. And set your comlink to frequency 3.75."  
"Got it. Let's move." Both men head off in their indicated directions, weapons at the ready to defend their fellow pilots.  
  
  
Four days thought Wedge as he thrust his shovel into the ground and pulled it out again weighed down by a pile of now displaced earth. Four days of this digging and Hobbie still hadn't found anything useful, nothing, not a thing. It's not like the village was incredibly large. It was barely big enough to qualify as a town. Wedge promised himself that he would switch places with Hobbie if he reported back empty-handed again.  
  
  
For the fourth time in as many days Wes and Corran split up to watch out for Wedge and Tycho, and Hobbie. Janson set himself up about 1.53 meters (*5 feet) back in the woods, crouching down so as not to be seen and watching Wedge and Tycho, when he heard a noise behind him. He turned just in time to see an absolutely gorgeous woman approaching him. She was approximately 1.55 meters (*5'5 or 5'6) tall, weighed maybe 47.73 to 45.45 kilograms (*100 to 105 pounds) with the cutest baby blue eyes, a perfect complexion, and the silkiest, and finest blonde hair, which cascaded down beyond her bare shoulders. Her legs were so smooth and soft and she was tanned to perfection. Her figure was absolutely perfect. Janson, however, was concentrating on none of this. Instead his focus was on the more immediate threat, the rock flying through the air at him. Janson, a crack shot with a pistol, dove to his right and twisted his body in an attempt to avoid the rock, all the while reaching for his blaster and wishing that Corran was here. Janson hit the ground and attempted to roll, but gravel pelted his right arm forestalling his attempts and pulling out his blaster and all of a sudden the woman was there, atop him. She rolled him over flat on his stomach, pulled his arms behind his back, and stuck her knee in the small of his back, pinning him there. As she began to bind his arms at the wrist she triumphantly and a little excitedly informed Janson, "I am Lysrina Ku and you are my slave."  
  
  
Hobbie sighed. He was sitting in a chair at what passed for a library around here. Four days of snooping around outside and he hadn't found anything worthwhile, so he had decided to hit the archives, but it was almost time to report back to base, their hut, and so far all of his efforts had been for naught. Wait a sec Hobbie said to himself. He flipped backwards a page. That shuttle. He recognized that raggedy looking shuttle. They saw it on their way in. Hobbie leaned in to read the caption on the picture: A shuttle that the Nightsisters starting building with which they wanted to escape from the planet, Dathomir. It disappeared sometime during the big battle that started when the Jedi, Luke Skywalker, came to Dathomir. It ha not been seen since. Hobbie shivered. He had finally found something of importance, but he wasn't happy in the least. Best to get this back to Wedge. "Easy now, Hobbie," he told himself. "Just a slave bringing some requested information to his master. Don't look so excited. Easy."  
  
  
Teresa Ki paced the dingy room impatiently. She had already had to kill four of the shady dealers out here on Nar Shaada because they could not deliver to her hat she needed fast enough. She did not want to have to kill another one. Even here on the Smugglers Moon one attracted attention to oneself if they killed enough people and Teresa Ki did not want to draw any unnecessary attention to herself. Her thoughts were interrupted when a man, as grungy as the room, poked his head in and said, "Ah, Teresa Ki, I do believe we can help you. They can be ready in four days. Teresa Ki considered it. She had wanted them in three days, but four days was more than two times faster than any of the previous offers had been and it would take time find someone else with the necessary skills, "Ok. I will be back in four days."  
"It will be... expensive." The man pushed on.  
"Credits are no object," Teresa Ki countered and they weren't. Jerran Llomm was paying for it all.  
  
  
As they walked through the woods circling the town so as to emerge from the forest at the other side of the village where her modest dwelling was located, Lysrina watched her captive. He was certainly the best looking man that she had ever seen. He also appeared to be very capable as he walked through, over, or around all of the obstacles without once stumbling and he kept up with her pace even with his hands bound behind his back. Still, despite appearances Lysrina knew that he had to be tiring, "All right. Stop. We can rest here for a while." Lysrina sat down on one of the many flat rocks. Janson, following suit, found a rock slightly in front of and to the left of the one she had sat on, and sat down on it facing her. "I didn't think that there were any people out here in the forest. Where did you come from?"  
Janson stared at her, just now registering her beauty. Those eyes, those legs, that hair... Janson snapped himself out of it. He couldn't tell her the truth of course, but telling half the truth should keep up his cover and satisfy her curiosity, forestalling further questions, "I hiked over here from the other village," Janson answered honestly.  
"Oh," Lysrina paused, "I wanted to move to that village."  
Janson eyed her curiously, "You realize that it is very different from here? The culture is very different."  
"I know. I wanted to learn the new ways, still do, but I do not have enough funds and my mother does not share my opinion."  
"Oh, that bites."  
She leaned in and cupped her hands around Wes's chin. As she leaned forward to bring her face closer to his, he was afforded a short view of her cleavage and then their lips met in a kiss, a rather long kiss actually. Janson felt as if a bomb had gone off inside his body, rendering himself incapable of rational thought and stimulating pleasure centers throughout his entire body. The power and the heat of the kiss felt strong enough to melt glaciers. Janson felt his own heart melt away into the warmth of her lips. It was like nothing he had ever felt before even with all of the other women he had been with and he had been with plenty. There was something special about this girl. Finally Lysrina broke the kiss and after nearly a minute she broke the resulting silence too, "Come on. We should get moving." Janson forced his first time feelings away. Of course there was just one problem: She lived in a society in which males were slaves and he was currently her slave, although she did seem to want to escape the culture and live in a more civilized society where slavery was illegal. Janson forced his thoughts away. He would need his full attention to get out of this one alive.  
Corran had first sensed that something was wrong. He reluctantly left his post of watching Hobbie and used his comlink tracer to track down Janson. When he finally caught up he saw that Wes's hands were bound behind his back. His captor was an incredibly gorgeous woman dressed in the normal clothing of the natives, Lizard Skin. He followed them at a discreet distance for about seven more minutes before they stopped for a rest. Corran thought about attacking her here, but no. There were too many things like loose rocks that she could use the force to throw at him and with his lack of telekinesis ability, he would be hard-pressed to defend himself let alone rescue Wes. No, he had to wait until they reached a clearing. Interrupting Corran's thoughts they rose from their makeshift seats and began moving again. Corran followed, biding his time.  
Jerran Llomm leaned back in his seat as he read Teresa Ki's new report, "I will have what I need in four days. I will then head to zero and set the mission in motion." Jerran Llomm smiled. So far everything was going to plan. In a week or two the Hapes system should draw back into total isolationism and leave the New Republic one less ally with which to combat his people when they came for the glorious take-over. He should begin to plan for what he should do. Perhaps he should capture one of the Nightsisters working for him and try to discover through testing how they used their power. Yes, that was it. That would be his next course of action as well as searching off planet for more guards. His fortress was far too vulnerable as it was and if the Nightsisters discovered what he was doing it would be best to be prepared. Jerran Llomm leaned back even further in his chair and his smile grew broader still.  
  
To Be Continued  



	3. Chapter 3

They were nearing her home now and Lysrina grew more excited with every step. Sure, she wanted to learn and experience the new ways. And sure on a conscience level but pushed all the way to the back of her brain she knew that slavery was wrong. But still she had just captured her first male slave and that was a huge step. Her mother might respect her as an equal now, and I she respected her she might listen to her ideas, which she considered to be extremely radical and if she listened to her who knew what could happen. She also could not stop thinking about that experimental kiss. It felt good, better than anything she had ever dreamed and she had dreamed for years of what her first kiss would be like. Now that it had finally happened she was so giddy. Lysrina was so deep in her musings that she didn't notice the approach of another woman.  
Tarana Kis, one of Teresa Ki's subordinates, was walking through the village when she noticed a sister with her slave, but there was something different about this slave. Something dangerous. She couldn't quite place the feeling, but she knew that it was important. She had better bring this male to Teresa Ki.  
Lysrina was snapped back to reality by the voice of Tarana Kis, "Excuse me. I would like to purchase your slave."  
Startled Lysrina asked, "Huh? I'm sorry. What did you say?"  
"I would like to purchase your slave. I will pay you 100 dinars."  
Lysrina shifted her weight from foot to foot. 100 dinars was a lot, but she really liked this male. She understood that she did not love him... at least not yet, but she had spent the better part of the day with him, they had talked abut a lot, and she really liked him. It could become so much more. "But I've only just captured him," she protested sounding just like a child, who wanted more than anything to play with a new toy, but having a very attractive alternative placed in front of him. "Perhaps we could discuss this again in a few weeks."  
"No, that will not do," was the answer. "It's either now or never. 300 dinars."  
300 dinars was enough to buy two of the best slaves in the village, but no. There was something different about this male. Something special. "No, I am sorry, but I can't do that."  
"500 dinars."  
Lysrina gasped. 500 dinars was enough for her to move to the other village and be financially secure for most if not all of the rest of her life. "May I have a few minutes."  
"Of course," Tarana Kis smiled as she turned her back and retreated a few paces. She had him.  
Lysrina started, "Look..."  
"Wes. My name is Wes. Lysrina smiled her sweetest smile up at him and Wes felt his pulse quicken.  
"Wes, I wouldn't normally do this." She looked down and blushed slightly. "I like you, I really do, but 500 dinars is enough for me to move to the other village without help from my mother. I'm sorry. I still wouldn't, but something tells me that it is the right thing to do. I'm sorry." She went up on her tiptoes and quickly yet passionately kissed Wes for what she believed would be the last time.  
Wes, struck speechless, for very possibly the first time in his life, by the sweetness of her kiss and the need to keep his mission a secret finally managed only, "I understand." There was an exchange of something similar to New Republic credits and Janson was all of a sudden with Tarana Kis and walking back toward the place that she called home with one added accessory: A blind fold.  
Corran watched something resembling a sale being made. Janson then started off in a new direction with a different woman leading him and this woman had a couple of bruises where blood vessels had popped just like the Nightsisters of old. They entered a passage that led underground. Corran ducked into the formerly secret passageway and slowly followed the two down, taking great pains not to be seen. The woman had put Janson in a primitive prison cell with bars of some sort of metal encaging him. She had left two male guards armed with blasters to guard him. Corran reflected that there was an awfully small number of guards around here for such a large fortress. They probably relied on secrecy more than force, hence it was all hidden underground. Corran was just getting ready to jump the guards and spring Janson when his comlink beeped.  
Wedge looked up as a man walked in through the door "Well, hello, Hobbie. I don't suppose you had any more luck than normal today?"  
"Actually, I think I did. I'm pretty sure... but here," Hobbie thrust a picture at Wedge, "Do you recognize this shuttle?"  
Wedge shook his head, but Tycho who had come across the room to look at the picture positively stated, "That's the shuttle we passed on our way down here."  
Wedge frowned then gasped when he read the caption, "You're sure?"  
"Positive, sir."  
Wedge stroked his brow in thought, "Hobbie, you've had some time to think about this. What do you suggest we do?"  
"Well, it's not good..."  
Tycho interrupted, "As Wes would say if he were here, 'It seems as if nothing good ever happens when Derek "Hobbie" Klivan is involved.'"  
"Hey," Hobbie started, "It's not my fault..."  
"Shh," Wedge interrupted. "Hobbie, just give me your suggestions."  
"Ok. As I was saying," Hobbie turned to stare at Tycho, "It doesn't look good," Hobbie faced back toward Wedge. "I've been thinking about this the whole way back here, but the I can only come up with one option. We still have the vector hat they were headed on. We can try to figure out where they were going to drop out of hyperspace."  
Wedge grimaced. It was a very low percentage plan, but it was the only thing that Wedge could think of too. "Ok, we'll have to go with that." Wedge pulled out his comlink. "I'll call Corran and Wes and tell them that we're all pulling back to our X-Wings."  
Corran grunted as he reached for his comlink, "5 here."  
"5, it's lead. We've got what we came for. Bug out."  
Can't do that lead. 3's been captured."  
Wedge swore, "Ok, we'll be right there to help with the jailbreak."  
"No, no. That's negative, Lead. I can break him out fairly easily. But I'll need you, 2, and 4 to do a little strafing run. A few proton torpedoes should do the job. It doesn't look very well armored. Transmitting coordinates now."  
"Affirmative. Give us a signal when you're clear. Lead out."  
Corran swapped his comlink for his lightsaber, then changed his mind and pulled out his blaster.. Corran checked the setting on the blaster, changed it to stun, and stepped around the corner. He fired two quick and very effective shots. The guards were down before either of them even had a chance to draw their own blasters. Corran drew his lightsaber and was about to slash through the bars of Janson's cell when Wes spoke up, "No, wait. Just take the key from the guards and unlock the door. Then we can take away their comlinks and lock them in here."  
"I show up and save you life and instead of a thank-you I get a lecture," Corran said jokingly.  
"Well, it would've been an imperfect rescue if I hadn't stopped you," Wes said with fake seriousness, "You wouldn't want to be known as an imperfect rescuer, would you?"  
"No, I suppose not." Corran said with a smile.  
It was the work of nearly 3 minutes to free Wes and lock up the guars minus their comlinks and blasters. Another 8 minutes before they reached the surface. Surprisingly they had so far faced no guards, but that wouldn't last. "Lead, it's 5," Corran said into his comlink. "Please commence strafing run now."  
"Affirmative, 5. We're on our way. Get back to your fighters now."  
"Yes, sir." Wes and Corran never saw the explosions or the X-Wings. They were too busy running through the forest at break-neck speed back toward their X-Wings, but they certainly heard the noise.  
Jerran Llomm did not miss the explosions. One minute he was sitting at his desk and the next he was lying on the floor in extreme pain. Fires were burning all over the place and the fortress was surely going to be destroyed. He looked down and saw that he was missing a leg. He dismissed the fact as unimportant. He glanced out the huge hole that was now in the ceiling and saw the machine fighters, the abominations. Explosions once again shook the compound. One more pass and everything would be destroyed. Jerran Llomm, however, knew that his plan would continue on without him and he knew his duty. He picked up his now detached leg and crawled toward the nearest of the fires. He paused in front of it. He knew that he could not allow even his body to be found recognizable and so with his last breath he crawled into the burning flames.  
  
To Be Continued  



	4. Chapter 4

"Lead, requesting permission for takeoff."   
  
"Granted, 3, and hurry. We've been waiting for you, for 20 minutes. The locals are probably giving us really dirty looks by now."   
  
Corran and Janson launched their fighters and expertly joined formation with Wedge, Tycho, and Hobbie. Tycho always the practical one asked, "So, where do we go from here?"   
  
"2, this is Lead," Wedge answered. "We'll have to return to Coruscant. We'll need a much larger force to be able to get in there and examine the ruins of that underground fortress for leads."   
  
"Understood, Lead."   
  
All of a sudden a ship flickered in from hyperspace directly in front of them. "Red Flight, evasive." Wedge launched his craft into a spinning corkscrew and then frowned. His pilots had continued on their original course straight toward the incoming ship. Wedge's puzzlement soon gave way to embarrassment when Janson informed him, "Uh... Wedge. That's the Wild Karrde."   
  
And it was. Karrde's transmission a few seconds later confirmed that, "Wedge, I have some of that information for you."   
  
Wedge took a second to recover himself, "Go ahead, Karrde. It should be safe enough here."   
  
"My people have recently discovered one of the Nightsisters sneaking around on Nar Shaada. Objective: unknown."   
  
"Nar Shaada," Wedge asked unbelievingly. "Are you sure?"   
  
"Yes," Karrde stated succinctly.   
  
"But why would they be on Nar Shaada? There's nothing there for them to hit. I would think that they would go back to Hapes to finish the job."   
  
"Well, that sure won't be easy for them. Even I'm having trouble getting my people into Hapes. They're doing sophisticated I.D. and background checks all over the place there."   
  
"That's it! Of course. That's exactly what they're doing," Wes blurted out.   
  
"Spit out, Wes," Wedge commanded.   
  
"Oh, but Wedge," Wes complained. "I know it's against regulations. It's just that I haven't had any in a really long time and I needed something to chew on..."   
  
"What are you talking about?" Wedge asked completely mystified.   
  
"My gum, of course."   
  
Wedge shook his head incredulously, "Wes, I meant your story! Spit out your story!"   
  
Wes started talking very fast, his sentences and words running together, "Oh, right. I knew that. I was only kidding, you see. I don't actually have any gum."   
  
"Wes," Wedge said with an edge now to his voice.   
  
"So it just occurs to me," Wes continued as if nothing had happened, "that if they want to get into Hapes, they'll need some really good forgeries, and where's the best place to find some under the table I.D.'s."   
  
"Nar Shaada," Wedge said as the Nightsisters' destination began to make sense.   
  
"Exactly," Janson confirmed.   
  
"Red Flight, line up on me. We've got to warn Hapes."   
  
"Ah, just a second there, Wedge," Karrde interjected. "I've got a freebie for you."   
  
"A freebie, eh?" Wedge asked sounding suspicious. "And what exactly is this 'freebie'?"   
  
"Relax, it really is free. I just thought that you might want to borrow some ysalamari," Karrde said emphasizing the word "borrow".   
  
Wedge smiled. "We would indeed be willing to borrow some."   
  
"Good. We'll have a freighter there with some. I'll transmit you the necessary information now. Good luck Wedge."   
  
"Right, you too, Karrde," Wedge said absently as he scanned through the file Karrde had just transmitted to him. "Red Flight, lineup on me and prepare to enter hyperspace." Wedge paused. "Oh, and Wes."   
  
"Yeah?"   
  
"Spit out your gum."   
  
  
  
Teresa Ki smiled as she boarded her freighter. They had finally gotten both sets of forged I.D.'s, complete with authentic backgrounds, of people who no longer needed them, and they were both perfect forgeries. Nobody, not even those paranoid Hapans, would suspect anything. It would be a smooth operation and then this task would be complete. Soon it would be time to implement her takeover. She would set herself up as a Queen and live a very luxurious life. All it would take was a little more planning, but first things first. She wanted to go over the assassination plan again first. She'd do that as soon as they entered hyperspace, which wouldn't be long now...4...3...2...1...  
  
  
To Be Continued  



End file.
